Uriah43 After being booted from a film due to his being claustrophobic, "Jake Scully" (Craig Wasson) goes back to the apartment he shares with his girlfriend "Carol" (Barbara Crampton) and discovers her in bed with another man. This results in him moving out and at the suggestion of a recent acquaintance named "Sam Bouchard" (Gregg Henry) he is offered the opportunity to temporarily reside in a luxurious high rise apartment while Sam is out of town on business. After quickly showing him the place, Sam then beckons him to a telescope he has pointed to another apartment window where an extremely beautiful woman named "Gloria Revelle" (Deborah Shelton) performs a sexy striptease at the same time every night. Naturally, being a red-blooded male he watches her the next night as well and it's during this time that he notices a strange person stalking her and immediately becomes convinced that she is in danger. So in an attempt to protect her he begins to follow her as well--and things take a turn for the worse immediately afterward. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an interesting film which greatly benefited from the presence of two attractive actresses in Melanie Griffith (as the porn star "Holly Body") and the aforementioned Deborah Shelton. Likewise, it also took several strange twists and turns which served to maintain the mystery throughout most of the film as well. That said, I enjoyed this particular movie and have rated it accordingly. Above average.

grahamcarter-1 Dismissed on release Body Double is referenced often in Bret Easton Ellis' novel 'American Psycho'(1991), the stories serial killer Patrick Bateman has seen the film 37 times. He also occasionally repeats his preferred moments from the film to the reader or to other characters, especially 'the power drill scene' (he masturbates to this scene). On a lighter note, the futuristic octagon residence Jake house-sits is a real place, 'Chemosphere,' at 7776 Torreyson Drive in Los Angeles. It was designed by the architect John Lautner in 1960, but is still looked cutting edge in the 1984 film. In The Simpsons television series the shallow ex B actor now infomercial host 'Troy McClure' lives in a near-identical house. DePalma began his career as an American Jean-Luc Godard with his films 'Greetings' and 'Hi, Mom!' and to a lesser extent with 'Blow Out'. He is unusual for a mainstream American director, in that he frequently produces love letters to Godard's 'Weekend'; colourful, loud, violent… sometimes popular, sometimes not. Body Double is a chapter in his ongoing war with his critics. The film was so shocking (for a major studio film from an established director), that I remember my jaw hit the floor when I first viewed it. It references early eighties porn films, Hitchcock via Melanie Griffith as well as 'Rear Window' and 'Vertigo'. Dario Argento is there via 'Tenebre' like killers, and as always DePalma thinks highly enough of himself to reference his own work (most obviously the Victoria Lyn link in 'Dressed To Kill'). DePalma had talked about making a porno… and with Body Double his critics thought he had. Those who still hate this film would probably be surprised to hear Bertolt Brecht mentioned in the same breath. "…the play should not cause the spectator to identify emotionally with the character or action before him or her, but should instead provoke rational self-reflection and a critical view of the action on the stage." DePalma performs more distancing tropes than he had ever tried to pull before under the guise of a thriller. We are asked to examine what is being said and how we observe and process it. DePalma does this via movies within movies; Jake is filming a movie, or was until he is fired for being claustrophobic. Melanie Griffith's porn starlet Holly Body stars in 'Holly Does Hollywood', a movie described as the 'Gone with the Wind' of porn. The two meet on the set of the porno sequel, one that recreates the making of the earlier film (a mirror shot that actor Craig Wasson claims he created reveals the camera crew; though DePalma probably had 'Blow-Up' in mind). Body Double begins and ends with deliberate deconstructions, breaking the fourth wall by showing the film set and crew. It sounds academic but it is a sickly sweet early eighties 'Tangerine Dreamy' sound tracked concoction full of nudity and violence, and this is precisely what makes it possible for DePalma to demonstrate his concerns, techniques and cognitive dissonance. DePalma is thumbing his nose at his critics for 'Dressed To Kill' (and 'Blow Out', and for that matter his previous film 'Scarface'), who decided the sexed up thriller 'Dressed…' was the number one cause of all rapes committed since its release. DePalma like Godard, gets a kick out of fatalistic humour. My reference to 'Tangerine Dream' is deliberate; whenever Jake catches a glimpse of his own 'Madeline'/'Judy' double (i.e. a doppelganger of a doppelganger) dancing in nothing but headphones and panties, DePalma has Pino Donaggio's music sounding not like a Hitchcock thriller, but more like 'Risky Business' from the previous year that starred a young Tom Cruise. DePalma is pointing out the hypocrisy that, in 'Dressed To Kill' for instance, it is verboten to have a middle-aged woman having remotely risqué sexual fantasies unless you get to throw labels of misogyny at the director DePalma who is regarded as arrogant by many. However in films like 'Porky's' (1982), 'My Tutor' (1983), and 'Class' (1983) and most obviously the aforementioned Risky Business (which the critics loved), it's okay to romanticise the corruption of virile, high school boys at the hands of non-Gonorrhea-carrying prostitutes. Body Double, whilst not a 'great' film (it's too flawed by the directors indulgences… even though they are what make the film; it's complicated), is however the front runner as his signature film. It has all the DePalma DNA; long set pieces, little dialogue, story told visually, voyeurism, the culprit aware he is a voyeur and yet being worried about other characters voyeurism, and what it means. He is self-referential (a kiss lifted from the climax of his own 'Obsession'), and to work our way back to Dario Argento, rather than being a 'noir' thriller, DePalma utilises the bright California sunshine, much as Argento did in 'Tenebre'.

nils_asther Please, stop describing it as "hitchcockian" at all! De Palma is a genius by his own merits. This movie proves again his authorial identity, as well as his prominent attitude to analyze psycho- social issues.Here Hollywood, "The Industry", is totally depicted during the hedonistic-Reagan's era. It was 1984. De Palma's camera takes are undoubtedly referred to the Hitchcock's school but there is MORE, I would personally assert.The criticism De Palma always displayed in every work he made is pretty faraway from the sugarcoated studios' standards agreements. Last BUT VERY NOT LEAST: this flick endures being a total landscape's eye about L.A. Visually from Lautner's Chemosphere House atop Mulholland Dr. to few Westwood and Beverly Hills spots, up till the S.ta Monica surroundings. This is a historical film in my opinion. This Los Angeles too. Ciao belli!

Predrag Body Double shows the ugly, moral tawdriness of the bottom rungs of the Los Angeles acting scene. When we first meet Jake he's in danger of being fired from Z-grade horror film. De Palma has crafted a beautifully structured thriller with a mystery that we piece together along with Jake. The story is suspenseful, mysterious, touches on Vampire and porn film-making, and conveniently provides sex as the substitute for drama. Controversial movies like this always result in a lot of contradictory feedbacks.The plot revolves around a failing actor (who could use some serious couch time, if you know what I mean), who becomes obsessed with "the girl next door" - a sexy neighbor whose 'jones' for late-night dancing in the "all-together" and abhorrence for window blinds makes house-sitting worth the lousy pay. And as we've seen in dozens of erotic thrillers, someone dies, someone is accused, and our hero must save the girl and get the bad guy. Nice twists along the way keep this one very intriguing. A spectacularly hot, 28 year old Melanie Griffith, who about steals the movie and registers a "'10' on the peter meter" whenever she's on-screen. Sure, there are elements of real, American "cheese" here; leaps in logic (the plot tenuously hinges on a couple "convenient" things happening at just the right time) and an overall "over-the-top" feel will turn some viewers off and have them scrambling for the remote. But Body Double is truly one of those late night cable classics that many have duplicated, but few have surpassed. It has just enough art, just enough schlock and just enough brains to keep your attention - and did I mention Melanie Griffith? Overall rating: 8 out of 10.